Could we get young people energised and excited about setting up their own market stall in north London? This was the volunteering week project for Guardian News and Media (GNM) volunteers and New Horizon Youth Centre, which works with vulnerable and marginalised people aged between 16 and 21.

New Horizon is close to securing funding to redevelop Chalton Street market, right on its doorstep, ensuring that local young people are involved right from the very beginning of the business project, picking up finance, marketing and creative skills on the way.

The goal of the volunteering week project was to research the viability of the market and produce photographs and a film of the results that will be shown at an exhibition at the GNM's headquarters from 29 October to 4 November 2012.

13 volunteers from editorial, multimedia, sales, events and jobs were on hand on Friday 21 September to help the dozen young people think creatively about how to approach the challenge of setting up a market and facilitate their own research and ideas.

Volunteers and participants split into groups. One traveled to Leather Lane and Exmouth Markets to research market stalls first hand, interview and film stall holders and take photographs of the best ideas. The other stayed at the youth centre to come up with marketing approaches, and think about how New Horizon could work to establish a logo, branding and start to tap into the local consumer base.

At Leather Lane market the smell of world cuisine drew the participants in and they showed great confidence in talking to the variety of stall-holders and researching their options. Interviews revealed times are hard for market owners, but that if a stall has a unique selling point, or a bit of craft, then it was likely to succeed. Food stalls also seem to have bucked the trend, with an ever-hungry supply of lunchtime customers, which gave the participants something to chew on.

Jackie Casey, a youth worker at New Horizon, said the project was great for confidence- building. "Interaction with the public is a key skill – even just asking permission to take photographs or interview someone. A lot of our young people don't know how to ask for things, so to have people on hand to guide them was invaluable."

Thank you to Vue Entertainment who donated 30 cinema tickets for the young people who took part in the project.